Home to Stay
by digitaldesigner
Summary: Angel remembers Cordelia.


Title: Home to Stay

Author: Aimee

Beta: Dev

Word Count: 873

Prompt: Home to Stay

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Wating in the Wings, You're Welcome

Pairing: Angel/Cordelia

Summary: Angel remembers Cordelia.

Disclaimer: If you recognize them, they belong to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Otherwise, they're mine.

Angel turned the page in the photo album on his lap and went back in time. He gently touched the image in front of him. Cordy smiled up at him, a tender expression shining in her hazel eyes. He smiled softly, remembering that day like it was only yesterday. It was the day he'd thought he'd lost her forever. They'd come home from the ballet to find Groo waiting, just when he'd been ready to tell her how he felt about her. She'd ran into Groo's waiting arms, leaving for home not ten minutes later. When she had walked out the door holding Groo's hand, he had thought he'd lost his chance. Later that night, he'd been sitting in the very chair in which he now sat, thinking, when a soft knock had sounded at his door. A moment later, Cordy had quietly poked her head in and made her way to him.

"Cordy, what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you," she told him as she sat down beside him.

"About what?"

"Us."

"What about us?" he asked.

"Angel, I know you wanted to tell me something tonight. I need you to tell me what that was."

He shook his head. "It was nothing."

Cordy took his hand in hers. "Angel. Please?"

Angel looked into her eyes, seeing something he hadn't before. He nodded. "When I look back on the last few years of our lives, at the trials and tribulations, it's not the demons and pain I remember. It's you. No matter what happened, no matter what I put you through, you were always there. I love you, Cordy."

Cordy smiled and tenderly brushed her fingers across his cheek. "I love you, too, Angel. When I look back at everything we've been through, all I see is you. Filling my life with more friendship and love than I ever thought was possible," she told him softly before brushing her lips across his.

"What about Groo?"

She smiled. "I told him my heart belongs to you. He's returning to Pylea in a few days."

Angel's only reaction was to press his lips to hers for a second time. While the first kiss had been soft, this one was more urgent, filled with the passion they felt for each other. "I love you so much," he whispered.

***

Angel blinked, slowly returning to reality. Glancing back down at the picture, a tear fell. "I still do. I love you so much," he told the woman who'd been taken from him six months ago after she'd fallen into a coma.

"I love you, too," a soft voice told him quietly from the doorway.

Angel's head snapped up--and he couldn't believe his eyes. Standing there stood Cordelia Chase. "Cordy?"

Cordy quickly crossed the room and kneeled in front of him. "It's me, Angel."

"But how?"

"I died a mystical death, Angel," she told him softly. "The Powers sent me home. They know how lost and lonely you've been without me. They knew you needed me."

Angel nodded. "I do need you."

She smiled. "After you signed away your shanshu, they knew they needed to come up with a new reward for you."

"You?"

Cordy nodded. "Me," she confirmed.

"For how long?"

She smiled. "Forever. I'm home to stay."

"Forever?" he asked in disbelief.

"I made them a deal," she told him.

"What kind of deal?"

"I agreed to come back on one condition."

"What did you agree to, Cordy?" he asked, pulling her into his lap. "What did you have to give up?"

She kissed his cheek sweetly. "I gave up any chance I had at a normal life," she admitted.

"Oh, Cordy."

"Angel, I'm going to beside you forever. We're both eternal. We will never die."

"You gave up everything," he told her softly.

Cordy brushed her hand across his face, cradling it. "You gave me everything, Angel. You gave me life. You gave me love."

Angel kissed the finger that lightly caressed his lips. "You are my life," he whispered.

Cordy smiled and pressed her lips to his in a kiss filled with promise and hope for the future. A future they now had.

***

Later that night, they laid in bed. Cordy's head was on Angel's chest, an arm draped across his waist while his own arm was wrapped around her, holding her close. "Angel?"

"Hmm?"

"There's one other thing."

"What's that?"

"The Powers made your soul permanent," she told him softly. She lifted her head and watched him, waiting for his reaction.

A soft smile began to spread across his face. It started out small, but soon took over his entire face. It was the smile she liked best, the one that only came out when he was at his happiest. "I love you, Cordy."

"And I love you, Angel. So very much."

He kissed her softly before plunging the room into darkness. "Rest up, Cordy."

"Why?" she asked, confusion coloring her voice.

Angel grinned. "Because tomorrow we're not leaving this bed."

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Cordy's laughter as she snuggled into Angel's arms once again and closed her eyes, content in the knowledge that she was finally where she was supposed to be.


End file.
